A homemade Shepherd’s Pie is the ultimate comfort food! A delicious filling with lots of gravy underneath a fluffy layer of mashed potatoes – perfect for a cold night, or as a special St. Patrick’s Day treat!
I LOVE Shepherd’s Pie. It’s the ultimate comfort food to me. It reminds me of working in a pub after finishing high school, it reminds me of my late British grandma, and it reminds me how much better it is to spend St. Patrick’s Day at home vs at a party, haha!
Now while authentic Shepherd’s Pie is made with ground lamb, I chose to use ground beef here for accessibility and budget-friendliness. You can ABSOLUTELY use the same recipe with ground lamb for a fully authentic version, but I didn’t want anyone to think this is not an approachable recipe – because truly, Shepherd’s Pie (or Cottage Pie as the beef version is traditionally called) should be here for everyone ❤️
📹 Full Video Instructions
🥣 Step by Step
1 Brown the ground meat, then add the chopped vegetables and sauté until softened.
2 Make the gravy – add seasoning, flour and tomato paste to the beef/vegetable mix. Stir well, then deglaze with red wine (OR beef broth if you prefer!). Then stir in broth and peas, give it a quick simmer and then let cool in a 7×11 inch baking dish.
3 Top the cooled filling with mashed potatoes (go here for my stovetop mash recipe or go here for my Instant Pot mash recipe!), cheddar cheese – and bake until bubbly. Done!
While, admittedly, this IS a bit more work than something like a one pot pasta or a throw-together casserole… It’s still fairly simple for such a hearty and traditional meal.
AND, you can always make double and freeze one for an easy meal later – freezer instructions are included in the recipe notes below. Enjoy!
📖 Recipe
Recommended Equipment:
- Casserole Dish
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1 clove garlic (chopped)
- 2 onions (finely chopped)
- 2 medium carrots (finely diced)
- 2 stalks celery (finely diced)
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon ground paprika
- ground black pepper (to taste)
- 2 tablespoons white flour
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1/3 cup red wine
- 1 cup beef broth
- 1 cup frozen peas
- 1 tablespoon finely chopped parsley
- 1/2 teaspoon finely chopped thyme
- 1 teaspoon finely chopped rosemary
- 4 cups mashed potatoes ((click for my recipe and you’ll have some leftovers to sneak during cooking))
- 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
Instructions
- Brown meat and vegetables: Heat the oil over medium high heat in a large, deep skillet. Add the beef and cook until browned and all the meat juices have evaporated. Add the garlic, onions, carrots and celery and continue cooking until the veggies are starting to soften.
- Season: Sprinkle the salt, paprika, pepper and flour over the pan. Cook for 2 minutes, stirring often. Stir in the tomato paste and cook, stirring all the time, until it smells roasted (about 1 minute).
- Deglaze the pan: Pour the red wine over the meat and veggies, scratching the browned bits off the bottom. Bring to a boil and cook until most of the liquid has evaporated. Add the broth and simmer for 4-5 minutes, or until a thick gravy has formed.
- Finish the filling: Stir in the peas and herbs. Check for seasoning, then spread in a 7×11 baking dish and set aside until cooled.
- Prep mash: In the meantime, make your favorite mashed potatoes. You need about 4 cups of mash to top off the casserole. About 1.5 pounds of peeled potatoes should yield enough.
- Bake pie: Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C). Spread the mashed potatoes over the cold filling. (Be careful not to mix up the two.) Sprinkle with the cheese. Bake at 400°F for 20 minutes or until golden.
Dena Barnes
This is a great recipe. I added Onion Powder and Garlic salt 1/2 teaspoon each. My husband love this dish. Thank you.
Nora Rusev
I’m so glad to hear, Dena.
Nancy
howdy, I am sitting here working from home. which I do not like. I miss getting out in the world…so I am looking for an easy good recipe with ground beef for me, hubby and 84 year old mom. Shepherd’s pie sounds good. thanks for the recipe and video. I hope your family stays safe during this “thing”.
Nora Rusev
I hope you enjoyed the pie, Nancy!
Lauren
This recipe was DIVINE. I ended up halving it. I even halved the wonderful mashed potato recipe provided and it came out perfectly. And a perfect meal for two!
Nora Rusev
Yay, I’m so glad, Lauren!
Sandra
Oh my goodness, so good. Used ground turkey and my favorite Italian red wine. Great recipe!
Nora Rusev
Sounds great with the ground turkey, Sandra! Thanks for your review, I appreciate it.
Lynn
Great recipe. I personally doubled the garlic. I also doubled the gravy ingredients as mashed potatoes absorb a fair amount of gravy. Played with seasonings to my taste but always do. Didn’t have fresh herbs which is preferable and that may be why I felt the need to alter herb amounts.
Nora Rusev
Thank you so much for sharing your changes, Lynn! Glad it turned out well for you.
Susan
My mashed potatoes are perfect ❣️💜
Using the hand mixer is genius!
😊
Jill
Loved the dish, especially the hamburger base. Since I live in Pennsylvania Dutch country, I used a potato filling instead of just mashed potatoes.
Nora Rusev
Jill, I had to look up potato filling because I had never heard of it. Now I want to try it ASAP! Thanks for sharing – glad you enjoyed the recipe.
Holly
What to use instead of wine?
Nora Rusev
More broth! Hope that helps, Holly.
Sue
I had leftover mashed potatoes…and thought, why not make a shepherd’s pie? I cannot even remember the last time I made one….but remember it being kind of bland. Your recipe was wonderful! Such nice flavors. My husband loved it…
Kelley
Do you have to use fresh vegetables or can you use canned? Would be a little faster to make.
Nora Rusev
Kelley, you can absolutely use canned if you prefer.
Rachel
Delicious! Added chopped mushrooms and a can if corn. Used Bob Evans pre-fab potatoes. So good, no leftovers!
Nora Rusev
I’m so glad, Rachel! Thanks for coming back to leave a review – I appreciate it very much.
Gina
I’ve been married and cooking for my husband for 4.5 years now and he said verbatim “this is the best shepherd’s pie you’ve ever made!” Plus my normally pickier, eats-like-a-bird 3.5 year old daughter had seconds and completely raved about how much she liked it! I am so grateful for this recipe! I unfortunately didn’t have peas so I substituted frozen green beans and corn instead and i didn’t have fresh or dried thyme so I subbed a third of the suggested amount with dried marjoram and it was still delicious! 🤗👍
Nora Rusev
I’m so glad to hear, Gina! Thanks for your review, I appreciate your time so very much.
Sally Hinebaugh
I’ve made this twice now. BEST cottage pie Ever! Thank you
Taylor
Haven’t tried yet but can I make this with something other than red wine?
Nora Rusev
Taylor, sure! Just use extra broth.
Samantha
Your recipe sounds delicious but Shepherds pie is made with lamb not beef. Your recipe is Cottage Pie. They are often confused but it’s easy to remember if you think about a shepherd watches over his sheep not cows 😂😁
Nora Rusev
Samantha, thanks for your comment. If you check my recipe notes, I have a statement that says exactly this! Unfortunately, in the US people have no clue what a cottage pie is 🙃😂 so I named it Shepherd’s Pie, even though it does hurt my British roots 😉
Carol
Great recipe! Easy to follow and it definitely was my best ever Shephards pie that I made for my family. They all loved it!❤️
Jan
This was a hit at our house, the sauce in the meat was so flavorful. I would add extra veggies next time just because my family likes more. I didn’t measure my potatoes, but be sure not to over do them on top (which I did) because it takes away from the meat mixture. I will definitely be making this again! Oh, and it you have a chance to make anything ahead of time I would suggest it. This recipe does take some time to put together especially on a busy weeknight.
Nora Rusev
I’m so glad to hear this, Jan! And I agree, it definitely takes some time. But worth it, right? 🙂
Dan
So good! I made one small change by adding sautéed mushrooms. Definitely recommend using red wine, which really adds to the flavor.
Wanda
This was the best Shepherds Pie I ever made!
Maureen Mc Morrow
I’ve was always led to believe that Shepherds Pie was made using lamb minced. Hence Shepherd as sheep minder
Nora Rusev
Maureen, that’s correct, however that is not what reflects common use of the term “Shepherd’s Pie” at the moment. If you take the time to read through my recipe, you’ll see this at the bottom in the notes section:
It might we worth telling you right now that the technical term for this recipe is actually cottage pie (made with ground beef) and not authentic shepherd’s pie (made with ground lamb).
But my mission here on Savory Nothings is always to share recipes real people with a real grocery budget and a regular grocery store and an everyday exhausting kids/work/life situation can make.
So, there it is. Fake Shepherd’s Pie. Aka Homemade Shepherd’s Pie with ground beef. One that’s simple and affordable and delicious. It is the best ❤️
Feel free to use ground lamb in place of the beef for a more authentic version! Lamb tends to be more fatty, so drain it after browning if you prefer less fat.
Christine
This was amazing the best shepherds pie I have made!!!
The only thing i will say is it did need double the meat (I used 1lb of each beef and veal) which I put from the get go.
But everything tasted great even with extra addition.
Thanks!